Gore – Gigaomhttp://gigaom.com
The industry leader in emerging technology researchThu, 24 May 2018 17:25:15 +0000en-UShourly1National Smart Grid Juggernaut Rolls On: Reid to Unveil Energy Bill This Weekhttp://gigaom.com/2009/02/23/national-smart-grid-juggernaut-rolls-on-reid-to-unveil-energy-bill-this-week/
http://gigaom.com/2009/02/23/national-smart-grid-juggernaut-rolls-on-reid-to-unveil-energy-bill-this-week/#commentsMon, 23 Feb 2009 22:30:14 +0000http://earth2tech.com/?p=23932Congressional wrangling over the stimulus package helped take the ideas of a national smart grid and utility decoupling out of wonky obscurity, but stopped short of mandating their implementation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to go further, to bulk up the federal muscle behind a grid buildout. The Nevada senator told a gathering of political, business, energy and labor heavyweights in Washington, D.C., today that he plans to introduce an energy bill late this week that, if passed, would expand government authority for siting transmission lines. It would, he said, put an end to an era in which one state can “hold up forever something that needs to be done for the good of the country.”

More importantly, such a move would make it easier to build infrastructure for carrying energy from places with abundant wind, solar and geothermal energy resources to population centers with higher demand for electricity. He said the bill will be bipartisan, but did not disclose a Republican co-sponsor.

Reid revealed his timeline and scant but important details about the bill at the National Clean Energy Project summit, an event that has in attendance such influential figures as former President Bill Clinton (who called for Congress to pass a federal decoupling mandate), former Vice President and Kleiner Perkins partner Al Gore, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, energy magnate T. Boone Pickens and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Asked in a press conference about potential resistance to the bill on the part of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, a group of 253 state regulators, Reid said, “Whatever we pass at a federal level trumps all of that.”

Not everyone supports this route. VantagePoint Venture Partners VC and longtime environmental advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for example, didn’t express flat-out opposition at today’s summit, but he wondered if three systems — one for the East, West, and Texas regions, respectively — might offer a more viable solution. Each of the three regions has a workable balance of renewable energy supply and demand, and the smaller scale could simplify negotiations.

But the real friction is expected to come from state regulators, according to Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Jeff Bingaman. States that would get transmission lines but no energy (crossover states) have reason to worry about getting short shrift. Not so with Nevada — part of the reason Reid has championed the issue. He noted that his state has far more geothermal and solar resources than its population demands. “We can’t use it all,” he said. “We need to be able to take the energy where it’s needed.”

(For those of you who have raised the valid point in our comments section that distributed generation, such as residential solar power systems, can get going without such a massive investment, Gore added that long-distance transmission lines offer a way to transition off of faraway coal power plants, but could eventually be used to support distributed systems.)

Much of the resistance to a national grid stems from the issue of “exits” — in other words, where and how electricity gets dropped off along a transmission route. Here, the DOE may be able to help. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said he plans to support development of advanced switches and industry-wide standards. With improved technology, off- and on-ramps along an interstate highway system for electricity would become more feasible, helping to bring crossover states on board. Chu clearly has the will. With fresh billions in his agency’s purse, he also has the means. Now Reid wants to give him the mandate.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2009/02/23/national-smart-grid-juggernaut-rolls-on-reid-to-unveil-energy-bill-this-week/feed/4Kineto Gets $15.5M for Femtocell Pushhttp://gigaom.com/2008/10/07/kineto-gets-155m-for-femtocell-push/
http://gigaom.com/2008/10/07/kineto-gets-155m-for-femtocell-push/#commentsTue, 07 Oct 2008 16:54:29 +0000http://gigaom.com/?p=23932Kineto Wireless is like the Energizer Bunny, it just keeps going and going. Today the Milpitas, Calif.-based startup said it has raised $15.5 million in additional capital. The round, which included funding from Motorola as part of a broader commercial relationship with the handset maker’s home and networks mobility business, also involved Kineto’s existing investors Oak Investment Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Venrock, Seapoint Ventures and InterDigital. An earlier investment from NEC will also tie in with this round. Kineto will use the funding to keep pushing its UMA technology beyond dual-mode handsets and work on a new technology for femtocells.

Kineto’s UMA technology basically provides a software link between unlicensed wireless services, such as Wi-Fi and cellular data networks. It has been used in dual-mode handsets to bridge Wi-Fi and cellular networks, most notably in T-Mobile’s Hot Spot@Home product, and now the company is trying to land it a starring big role in the 3G and 4G femtocell markets. Femtocells, which are personal cellular base stations hooked into a consumer’s existing broadband connection, help boost coverage inside homes and can also be used to offload some traffic from a carrier’s wireless 3G network. In 4G networks, femtocells might be used to bridge gaps in coverage.

Kineto worked with NEC to create a standard to connect femtocells to the home computing network that was based on its UMA technology. However, the companies involved in the standard-setting effort chose a different way to connect femtocells to home networks, and will publish a complete standard in early 2009. This latest round of funding should enable Kineto to support femtocell development and deployments for vendors such as NEC and Motorola as carriers and equipment makers figure out the best way to build out and support wireless broadband networks.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2008/10/07/kineto-gets-155m-for-femtocell-push/feed/8Green Campaign Watch: Gore Supports Obama, Cleantech Cheershttp://gigaom.com/2008/06/17/green-campaign-watch-gore-supports-obama-cleantech-cheers/
http://gigaom.com/2008/06/17/green-campaign-watch-gore-supports-obama-cleantech-cheers/#commentsTue, 17 Jun 2008 12:00:55 +0000http://earth2tech.com/?p=2483Former Vice President turned cleantech venture capitalist Al Gore has come out of political hibernation to officially endorse presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. The announcement was made at a fundraiser in Detroit, Mich. last night but earlier in the day Gore wrote to his own supporters that he would “do whatever I can to make sure [Obama] is elected President of the United States.”

The question now becomes, what roll will Al Gore play in an Obama presidency? When asked if he would tap Gore for a Cabinet-level post to help address climate change, Obama said: “I would.” Obama added, “Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem.”

This isn’t to say Gore will be head of the EPA and certainly says nothing of the ongoing running mate search. But what sorts of vested interests would Gore have to give up in order to resume high public office? Would he be willing to do that or could he be more effective in fighting global warming in the private sector? What do you political pundits and policy wonks think?

Image courtesy of Obama’s campaign.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2008/06/17/green-campaign-watch-gore-supports-obama-cleantech-cheers/feed/2Kleiner's Gore and Doerr Pitching Green Growth Fundhttp://gigaom.com/2008/04/25/kleiners-gore-and-doerr-pitching-green-growth-fund/
http://gigaom.com/2008/04/25/kleiners-gore-and-doerr-pitching-green-growth-fund/#commentsFri, 25 Apr 2008 15:11:33 +0000http://earth2tech.com/?p=2018Kleiner Perkins, the green-leaning venture capital firm, is reportedly raising a “green growth” fund of more than $400 million for investment in later-stage, less risky cleantech startups, says Pehub.com (full story on Pewnews.com). The firm has already allocated a good third of its $600 million main fund to technologies that aim to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, and this additional money makes the firm’s purse for cleantech one of the bigger among its green VC peers.

The folks at Pehub.com say Kleiner partners John Doerr and Al Gore have been actively pitching the fund, which would do both private and public investment, to potential limited partners. And the firm has reportedly already hired an exec from Goldman Sachs to help manage the fund.

Several venture firms and angels that focus on cleantech have been investing a lot of funds into very early stage, risky startups, with promising technology in the lab but a long and questionable timeline to product, let alone profitability. Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and Mohr Davidow come to mind as notable early investors.

Perhaps focusing on later-stage, already-established companies that have already started generating revenue will turn out to be a smart move for Gore and Doerr’s new fund. The firm didn’t exactly hit any home runs last year.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2008/04/25/kleiners-gore-and-doerr-pitching-green-growth-fund/feed/23 Resources for Switchershttp://gigaom.com/2008/04/04/3-resources-for-switchers/
http://gigaom.com/2008/04/04/3-resources-for-switchers/#commentsFri, 04 Apr 2008 18:00:00 +0000http://webworkerdaily.wordpress.com/?p=2018Of course, for web workers “switcher” generally means one thing: people who used to use Windows PCs who are beginning to use a Mac instead. We’ve certainly seen our share of switchers here at WWD: a number of our staffers have made the transition to the Mac life, and we hear from readers who have started down the same road – or who want to – fairly frequently. Market share numbers bear this out; though it’s still a fraction of Windows use, Apple use has been steadily growing.

But despite this trend, switching is not as easy as the hardcore Mac fanboys would have you believe. Despite propaganda to the contrary, OS X is not completely intuitive (no operating system ever is). If you’re in the early stages of switching, you can learn how to use your new Mac the hard way, by pounding your head against things, pressing random keys, and doing lots of Google searches. Or you can look for shortcuts. Here are three resources that you might find useful.
1. Switch 101 – This is Apple’s own mini-site for switchers. Its content tends to be pretty basic, but when you’re just getting started, that’s what you need. It will hold you hand as you move from figuring out the difference between the menu bar and the dock to migrating files and troubleshooting common issues.

2. Mac Keyboard Shortcuts – This helpful list comes from Dan Rodney. If you’re the type of user who prefers the keyboard to the mouse, the tables of information on this page will get you up and running quickly. Finder in particular has a lot of functionality that can hide from you when you’re getting started.

3. A Mac Eye for the Windows Guy – This 160-page ebook by Phillip Zannini will cost you $17.95, but if your goal is to find the Mac applications to replace what you used to use in Windows it will save you that much in evaluation time. It does cover other topics (including moving data and the basics of using the Mac), but the meat here is in a series of chapters that review software options for email, instant messaging, word processors, spreadsheets, and so on. If you’re a professional web developer you’ll find it a bit light – developer’s editors and high-end graphics applications are not covered – but for the average home or business user the pointers here are plenty useful.

Switchers, do you have your own resources that helped you out as you made the transition? Let us know in the comments.

If you’re planning to take advantage of the Lenovo X300’s swappable bay, make sure you have a screwdriver handy. That’s the magic tool needed in order to release the optical drive or battery from the bay in case you want to switch modules. The procedure is quick, painless and easy as shown the Lenovo folks in the video above. Simply flip your X300 over, undo and remove a single screw, and then use the screwdriver to release the optical drive or battery inside. Once you swap, you just need to replace the screw… and put your screwdriver in a safe place so you don’t lose it for the next swap.Although easy to do with a tool, it’s a shame that some button or latch mechansim couldn’t have worked in this case. The more you have to carry, the less mobile you become and isn’t mobility the point of the X300 to begin with? Not a major issue, but for perspective buyers that plan to take advantage of the optical drive and 3-cell battery option, this is good info to have.(via Small Laptops and Notebooks)

The phrase “DVD-quality” usually doesn’t get a high-def junkie like me excited, but I’ll make an exception in the case of Microvision’s SHOW. The handheld pico-projector will be on display (heh) at CES but in prototype form only; the company doesn’t anticipate a product release until the end of 2008.There’s a few interesting aspects from a mobile perspective. First off, the unit is small at only 7mm thick and sized roughly like a PDA so it can be thrown into a gadget bag. Next up is the rechargeable battery that lasts around 2.5 hours. Longer life would be better, but let’s face it: if you’re showing a slide-deck presentation for anything longer than 20 minutes, odds are good that you’ll face either a snoozing audience or a crowd of BS-Bingo players. Last up is the picture quality for something this small: 848 x 480 ranging in size from 12- to 100-inches diagonal.Of course, there’s a limited market for this type of mobile display gadgetry. I wouldn’t carry one around unless I were a trainer, presenter or someone who likes to surf the web on the side of a neighbors house in the middle of the night. Hmm… I probably shared too much just then. Guess it’s time to move.

]]>http://gigaom.com/2008/01/03/microvision-sho/feed/3Opera browser on Pocket PChttp://gigaom.com/2004/11/04/opera-browser-on-pocket-pc/
http://gigaom.com/2004/11/04/opera-browser-on-pocket-pc/#commentsThu, 04 Nov 2004 15:04:03 +0000http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2004/11/04/opera-browser-on-pocket-pc/I love it when some pesky start-ups bitch slaps a giant, especially one which has a lock on most of the user-interfacing markets. Norway-based alternative browser maker, Opera, is planning to release a Microsoft Pocket PC Mobile Phone version of its lightweight, lighting fast browser. I have seen it working on a handful of Pocket PC based phones, include the much-in-demand Audiovox, which Scobelizer has deemed the ultimate “bling bling” of phones. The demo I saw was nasty fast, even faster than the one on UIQ platform. Opera is making a lot of headway in the mobile browser space, especially in Japan where it has locked down some serious deals with KDDI. I guess like everyone else I find their Small Screen Rendering technology da “bomb.” Oh did I mention, that the final version of Opera for Pocket PC Mobile Phone OS, and I am assuming other platforms will have an RSS auto-detect feature in the address field. Nice!
]]>http://gigaom.com/2004/11/04/opera-browser-on-pocket-pc/feed/3Rise of the Dormitory CEOhttp://gigaom.com/2004/08/21/rise-of-the-dormitory-ceo/
Sat, 21 Aug 2004 18:33:48 +0000http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2004/08/21/rise-of-the-dormitory-ceo/Michael Dell may not be much loved in Silicon Valley for his super-efficient model and promoting the concept of Moore’s Claw, but he is clearly inspiring a generation of dormitory entrepreneurs. Associated Press chronicles the start-up experiences of college students who have started their own businesses. Lance Larson who graduated from San Diego State University started OC Hosting while attending college, and now does about a million dollars in revenues. There is Anthony Casalena, a senior at the Univeristy of Maryland, runs SquareSpace.com, a hosted blogging service, which I have tried and found more snappy and easy to use than other programs. “School work is not nine to five — you can kind of push it around,” said Casalena. The article while inspiring misses to highlight the key trends that have helped these young stars establish their business. The Internet as a distribution channel is new way of doing things, and gives even the smallest guy an even playing field. Or how about instant markets from all the new platforms that are cropping up – wireless phones, PDAs and home networks for example.